Promotional products are commonly used by businesses to increase public awareness of their goods and services. In respect to packaged foods, such as cereals and potato chips, manufacturers can easily include the promotional products within the packaging at the time of manufacture. Following the purchase of such packaged foods, the user may open the packaging and remove the promotional product for their use and enjoyment. Thus far, manufacturers have not been provided with a suitable approach for providing combination containers having secondary exterior compartments for secondary products which accompany a primary product package. An existing approach is to secure a secondary product to a hang tag around the neck of the primary container, such as a beverage bottle. Manufacturers have discovered that this approach is problematic for the reason that consumers may easily remove the secondary product from the primary container without having to purchase the associated primary product.
Secondary products are increasingly used at sporting and entertainment events to encourage spectators to attend and support the participants in the subject event. In view of the increased security conditions at most public sporting and entertainment events, spectators are routinely not permitted to bring banners and other novelty secondary products to the events. Without banners or novelty secondary products, spectators are often unable to fully enjoy and participate in the excitement of an event. Similar situations arise with many other cases where consumers may be purchasing a primary product, and require a secondary product to be supplied which accompanies the primary product. For example, take out foods, as primary products, supplied in primary containers, may require secondary products such as cutlery, condiments, cleansing cloths and the like.
In the past, these secondary items are often available only at a service counter, or may require extra handling by staff at the cash register.
This will slow up the handling of customers, and require service personnel to be occupied in clearing service counters, restocking with secondary items and the like.
One form of secondary item package is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,851 inventor D A Powell granted Oct. 4 1994. In that patent the intent was, apparently to provide a combination package, with a recess for a secondary item, and a clear film covering the recess and holding the item in the recess.
However, It is also necessary that the entire package can be produced, assembled and labeled in an efficient and repeatable fashion, without downtime on the production line.
Where a secondary item is simply placed in the recess, it is found that the item can slip around and move during handling. The item may be moved in such a way that it can no longer be identified by the consumer.
It is found desirable that the item may be placed in the recess and that this placement will remain unchanged during the remaining packaging operations, and thereafter during subsequent handling, until it reaches the hands of the consumer.
It is also found that, during the movement along the packaging line, the rapid movement of such packages, particularly containers for beverages, is such that the secondary item readily becomes displaced from the recess. This results in failure of the packaging process, and downtime on the line, while the problem is resolved.
A further problem with the marketing of bottles or packages with exterior depressions, is in the labeling of the product. Typically such products will be labeled with a label made of paper or thin thermoplastic printed with logos and names of the product and contents.
Where the bottle provides a firm exterior profile, the label is simply wrapped around the bottle and adhered to it. However where there is a depression on the exterior of the bottle, then the label will not be supported in the area of the depression, consequently it will be flexible, and being of thin material is easily damaged.
Products with damaged labels will not be acceptable to consumers, since they appear to have been damaged.
Accordingly this problem must be addressed in order to provide an acceptable beverage container with a secondary item package in the exterior.
Preferably the secondary item package will be of a predetermined size and shape such that it fits readily within the recess of the container, and can be handled automatic robotic machinery on the bottom filling line.
Preferably the secondary item package will have an outer cover panel which is profiled and contoured so as to simulate the contour of the exterior of the bottle or primary package, and thus provide support for a package label.
These problems are not addressed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,851, which may account for its apparent lack of commercial success.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for an improved combination container, such as a beverage bottle for example, having a storage compartment for storing one or more secondary products. The combination container of the present invention may be offered by manufacturers and other businesses to enable users, such as spectators, to utilize the one or more secondary products and to actively participate in the sporting or entertainment event, for example. The combination container of the present invention may also be used by a user in a conventional manner to quench their thirst and thereby further enhance their enjoyment of the sporting or entertainment event.